U.S. patent application number 14/620457 was filed with the patent office on 2015-08-13 for transmission system, transmission management apparatus and non-transitory computer-readable information recording medium.
The applicant listed for this patent is Yoshinaga KATO, Shuhei TSUBONE. Invention is credited to Yoshinaga KATO, Shuhei TSUBONE.
Application Number | 20150229681 14/620457 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 53776009 |
Filed Date | 2015-08-13 |
United States Patent
Application |
20150229681 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
TSUBONE; Shuhei ; et
al. |
August 13, 2015 |
TRANSMISSION SYSTEM, TRANSMISSION MANAGEMENT APPARATUS AND
NON-TRANSITORY COMPUTER-READABLE INFORMATION RECORDING MEDIUM
Abstract
A transmission system that manages sessions established among a
plurality of transmission terminals. The transmission system
includes a terminal information request signal transmission part
that transmits, from a first transmission terminal, a terminal
information request signal to request information for identifying a
third transmission terminal currently establishing a session with a
second transmission terminal that is designated by a user as a
destination; and a display part that carries out display in such a
manner that the user can determine whether to allow the third
transmission terminal to establish a session with the first
transmission based on information received in response to the
terminal information request signal. The information includes first
information for identifying a transmission terminal eligible to
establish a session with the first transmission terminal and second
information that is the information for identifying the third
transmission terminal currently establishing the session with the
second transmission terminal.
Inventors: |
TSUBONE; Shuhei; (Tokyo,
JP) ; KATO; Yoshinaga; (Kanagawa, JP) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
TSUBONE; Shuhei
KATO; Yoshinaga |
Tokyo
Kanagawa |
|
JP
JP |
|
|
Family ID: |
53776009 |
Appl. No.: |
14/620457 |
Filed: |
February 12, 2015 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
370/261 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04L 65/4038 20130101;
H04L 65/1076 20130101; H04L 65/1069 20130101 |
International
Class: |
H04L 29/06 20060101
H04L029/06 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Feb 13, 2014 |
JP |
2014-025604 |
Feb 13, 2014 |
JP |
2014-025605 |
Dec 22, 2014 |
JP |
2014-258924 |
Claims
1. A transmission system that manages sessions established among a
plurality of transmission terminals, the transmission system
comprising: a terminal information request signal transmission part
that transmits, from a first transmission terminal, a terminal
information request signal to request information for identifying a
third transmission terminal currently establishing a session with a
second transmission terminal that is designated by a user as a
destination; and a display part that carries out display in such a
manner that the user can determine whether to allow the third
transmission terminal to establish a session with the first
transmission based on information received in response to the
terminal information request signal, the information including
first information for identifying a transmission terminal eligible
to establish a session with the first transmission terminal and
second information that is the information for identifying the
third transmission terminal currently establishing the session with
the second transmission terminal.
2. The transmission system as claimed in claim 1, further
comprising: a displaying-way information transmission part that
transmits displaying-way information to the first transmission
terminal in response to the terminal information request signal,
the displaying-way information being generated based on the first
information for identifying a transmission terminal eligible to
establish a session with the first transmission terminal and the
second information for identifying the third transmission terminal
currently establishing the session with the second transmission
terminal, the display part carrying out the display in such a
manner that the user can determine whether to allow the third
transmission terminal to establish a session with the first
transmission based on the displaying-way information.
3. The transmission system as claimed in claim 1, further
comprising an identification information transmission part that
transmits the second information for identifying the third
transmission terminal currently establishing the session with the
second transmission terminal, the display part carrying out the
display in such a manner that the user can determine whether to
allow the third transmission terminal to establish a session with
the first transmission based on the first information that the
first transmission terminal has for identifying a transmission
terminal eligible to establish a session with the first
transmission terminal and the second information, transmitted by
the identification information transmission part, for identifying
the third transmission terminal currently establishing the session
with the second transmission terminal.
4. The transmission system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the
display part is configured to carry out the display based on the
displaying-way information and carry out display for the user to
determine whether to connect to the session currently established
by the second transmission terminal.
5. The transmission system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the
display part is configured to carry out the display where a
terminal ID is displayed but no terminal name is displayed for a
transmission terminal which is not eligible to establish a session
with the first transmission terminal.
6. The transmission system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the
display part is configured to carry out the display to indicate
that, at least one of the transmission terminals is not registered
as a transmission terminal eligible to establish a session with the
first transmission terminal or all the transmission terminals are
registered as transmission terminals eligible to establish a
session with the first transmission terminal.
7. The transmission system as claimed in claim 2, further
comprising: an initial setting part that receives an initial
setting as to whether to transmit the terminal information request
signal when the user designates the destination, wherein the
terminal information request signal transmission part is configured
to determine whether to start a process according to the contents
of the initial setting.
8. A transmission management apparatus that manages sessions
established among a plurality of transmission terminals, the
transmission management apparatus comprising: a terminal
information request signal reception part that receives, from a
first transmission terminal, a terminal information request signal
to request information for identifying a third transmission
terminal currently establishing a session with a second
transmission terminal that is designated by a user as a
destination, wherein the first transmission terminal carries out
display in such a manner that the user can determine whether to
allow the third transmission terminal to establish a session with
the first transmission based on information received in response to
the terminal information request signal, the information including
first information for identifying a transmission terminal eligible
to establish a session with the first transmission terminal and
second information that is the information for identifying the
third transmission terminal currently establishing the session with
the second transmission terminal.
9. The transmission management apparatus system as claimed in claim
8, further comprising a displaying-way information transmission
part that transmits displaying-way information to the first
transmission terminal in response to the terminal information
request signal, the displaying information being generated based on
the information for identifying a transmission terminal eligible to
establish a session with the first transmission terminal and the
information for identifying the third transmission terminal
currently establishing the session with the second transmission
terminal, the first transmission terminal carrying out the display
in such a manner that the user can determine whether to allow the
third transmission terminal to establish a session with the first
transmission based on the displaying-way information.
10. The transmission management apparatus as claimed in claim 8,
further comprising an identification information transmission part
that transmits the information for identifying the third
transmission terminal currently establishing the session with the
second transmission terminal, the first transmission terminal
carrying out the display in such a manner that the user can
determine whether to allow the third transmission terminal to
establish a session with the first transmission based on the
information that the first transmission terminal has for
identifying a transmission terminal eligible to establish a session
with the first transmission terminal and the information,
transmitted by the identification information transmission part,
for identifying the third transmission terminal currently
establishing the session with the second transmission terminal.
11. The transmission management apparatus as claimed in claim 9,
wherein the first transmission terminal carries out the display in
such a manner that the user can determine whether to allow the
third transmission terminal to establish a session with the first
transmission and carries out display for the user to determine
whether to connect to the session currently established by the
second transmission terminal.
12. The transmission management apparatus as claimed in claim 9,
wherein the first transmission terminal carries out the display
where a terminal ID is displayed but no terminal name is displayed
for a transmission terminal which is not eligible to establish a
session with the first transmission terminal.
13. The transmission management apparatus as claimed in claim 9,
wherein the first transmission terminal carries out the display to
indicate that, at least one of the transmission terminals is not
registered as a transmission terminal eligible to establish a
session with the first transmission terminal or all the
transmission terminals are registered as transmission terminals
eligible to establish a session with the first transmission
terminal.
14. A non-transitory processor-readable information-recording
medium storing a program for causing a processor of a transmission
management apparatus that manages sessions established among a
plurality of transmission terminals, the program causing the
processor to carry out: receiving, from a first transmission
terminal, a terminal information request signal to request
information for identifying a third transmission terminal currently
establishing a session with a second transmission terminal that is
designated by a user as a destination, wherein the first
transmission terminal carries out display in such a manner that the
user can determine whether to allow the third transmission terminal
to establish a session with the first transmission based on
information received in response to the terminal information
request signal, the information including first information for
identifying a transmission terminal eligible to establish a session
with the first transmission terminal and second information that is
the information for identifying the third transmission terminal
currently establishing the session with the second transmission
terminal.
15. The non-transitory processor-readable information recording
medium as claimed in claim 14, wherein the program causes the
processor to further carry out transmitting displaying-way
information to the first transmission terminal in response to the
terminal information request signal, the displaying information
being generated based on the information for identifying a
transmission terminal eligible to establish a session with the
first transmission terminal and the information for identifying the
third transmission terminal currently establishing the session with
the second transmission terminal, the first transmission terminal
carrying out the display in such a manner that the user can
determine whether to allow the third transmission terminal to
establish a session with the first transmission based on the
displaying-way information.
16. The non-transitory processor-readable information recording
medium as claimed in claim 14, wherein the program causes the
processor to further carry out transmitting the information for
identifying the third transmission terminal currently establishing
the session with the second transmission terminal, the first
transmission terminal carrying out the display in such a manner
that the user can determine whether to allow the third transmission
terminal to establish a session with the first transmission based
on the first information that the first transmission terminal has
for identifying a transmission terminal eligible to establish a
session with the first transmission terminal and the second
information, transmitted by the identification information
transmission part, for identifying the third transmission terminal
currently establishing the session with the second transmission
terminal.
17. The non-transitory processor-readable information recording
medium as claimed in claim 15, wherein the first transmission
terminal carries out the display in such a manner that the user can
determine whether to allow the third transmission terminal to
establish a session with the first transmission and carries out
display for the user to determine whether to connect to the session
currently established by the second transmission terminal.
18. The non-transitory processor-readable information recording
medium as claimed in claim 15, wherein the first transmission
terminal carries out the display where a terminal ID is displayed
but no terminal name is displayed for a transmission terminal which
is not eligible to establish a session with the first transmission
terminal.
19. The non-transitory processor-readable information recording
medium as claimed in claim 15, wherein the first transmission
terminal carries out the display to indicate that, at least one of
the transmission terminals is not registered as a transmission
terminal eligible to establish a session with the first
transmission terminal or all the transmission terminals are
registered as transmission terminals eligible to establish a
session with the first transmission terminal.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates to a transmission system, a
transmission management apparatus and a non-transitory
computer-readable information-recording medium.
[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0004] In a remote conference system, in a conference room where
participants of a remote conference are present, transmission
terminals are used to take photographs of the participants, collect
statements of the participants, or so, to collect images and/or
sounds. Then, the collected images/sounds are converted into
digital data, which is then transmitted to other transmission
terminals, the images are displayed on display devices in other
conference rooms or the sounds are generated from speakers. Thus, a
state similar to an actual conference can be implemented.
[0005] In such a remote conference system, it is possible that all
transmission terminals of participants of a conference are
connected via a relay apparatus(es), the relay apparatus(es)
controls distribution of image data and/or sound data to the
respective transmission terminals, and thus, it is possible to
implement a remote conference among a plurality of locations.
[0006] Generally speaking, in a remote conference performed among a
plurality of locations, a display screen of each transmission
terminal is divided into the number of areas corresponding to the
number of transmission terminals of participants of the conference
and images transmitted from the transmission terminals are
displayed in the respective areas of the display screen, for the
purpose that each user can know, from the transmission terminals,
who participate in the conference, during the conference. Thus,
each user can know which transmission terminals participate in the
conference.
[0007] Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2012-195926
(Patent Reference No. 1) discloses the following point. That is, as
the number of participants of a conference increases, the number of
areas to which a display screen is divided increases, whereby each
area is reduced, and thus, it may be difficult for each user to
understand which transmission terminals participate in the
conference. In order to solve the problem, detailed conference
information is displayed separate to the displays in the divided
areas of the display device of each transmission terminal.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0008] According to one aspect of the present invention, a
transmission system manages sessions established among a plurality
of transmission terminals. The transmission system includes a
terminal information request signal transmission part that
transmits, from a first transmission terminal, a terminal
information request signal to request information for identifying a
third transmission terminal currently establishing a session with a
second transmission terminal that is designated by a user as a
destination; and a display part that carries out display in such a
manner that the user can determine whether to allow the third
transmission terminal to establish a session with the first
transmission terminal based on information received in response to
the terminal information request signal. The information includes
first information for identifying a transmission terminal eligible
to establish a session with the first transmission terminal and
second information that is the information for identifying the
third transmission terminal currently establishing the session with
the second transmission terminal.
[0009] Other objects, features and advantages of the present
invention will become more apparent from the following detailed
description when read in conjunction with the accompanying
drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0010] FIG. 1 generally illustrates a transmission system;
[0011] FIG. 2 illustrates a hardware configuration of a
transmission terminal;
[0012] FIG. 3 illustrates a hardware configuration of a
transmission management system, a relay apparatus, a program
provisioning system or a maintenance system;
[0013] FIG. 4 illustrates an external appearance of the
transmission terminal;
[0014] FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram of each transmission
terminal, apparatus and system included in the transmission
system;
[0015] FIG. 6 illustrates one example of a change quality
management table;
[0016] FIGS. 7A-7C are conceptual diagrams illustrating image
quality of image data;
[0017] FIG. 8 illustrates one example of a relay apparatus
management table;
[0018] FIG. 9 illustrates one example of a terminal authentication
management table;
[0019] FIG. 10 illustrates one example of a terminal management
table;
[0020] FIG. 11 illustrates one example of a destination list
management table;
[0021] FIG. 12 illustrates one example of a session management
table;
[0022] FIG. 13 illustrates one example of a quality management
table;
[0023] FIG. 14 illustrates one example of a relay apparatus
selection management table;
[0024] FIG. 15 illustrates one example of a state change management
table;
[0025] FIG. 16 illustrates one example of a state change management
table;
[0026] FIGS. 17 and 18 illustrate examples of state transition
diagrams of communication states;
[0027] FIG. 19 is a detailed functional block diagram of a relay
apparatus selection part;
[0028] FIG. 20 is a conceptual diagram illustrating states of
content data and various management information in the transmission
system;
[0029] FIG. 21 illustrates one example of a screen page for a
participant prior confirmation setting;
[0030] FIG. 22 is a sequence diagram illustrating one example of
the process from the power being turned on to a destination list
being displayed in a transmission terminal;
[0031] FIG. 23 illustrates one example of display of the
destination list;
[0032] FIG. 24 is a functional block diagram of each transmission
terminal, apparatus and system included in the transmission
system;
[0033] FIG. 25 illustrates one example of a prior authentication
management table;
[0034] FIG. 26 is a sequence diagram illustrating another example
of the process from the power being turned on to a destination list
being displayed in a transmission terminal;
[0035] FIG. 27 is a sequence diagram illustrating one example of
the process of participant prior confirmation;
[0036] FIG. 28 illustrates one example of the process of generating
a UI based on the destination list and/or the like;
[0037] FIG. 29 illustrates one example of a conference participant
prior confirmation screen page;
[0038] FIG. 30 illustrates another example of the process of
generating a UI based on the destination list and/or the like;
[0039] FIG. 31 illustrates another example of a conference
participant prior confirmation screen page;
[0040] FIG. 32 illustrates yet another example of a conference
participant prior confirmation screen page;
[0041] FIG. 33 is a functional block diagram of each transmission
terminal, apparatus and system included in a transmission system
according to another embodiment;
[0042] FIG. 34 is a sequence diagram illustrating one example of
the process from the power being turned on to a destination list
being displayed in a transmission terminal according to the other
embodiment;
[0043] FIG. 35 is a sequence diagram illustrates one example of the
process for conference participant prior confirmation according to
the other embodiment;
[0044] FIG. 36 illustrates one example of the process of generating
display information based on the destination list according to the
other embodiment; and
[0045] FIG. 37 illustrates another example of the process of
generating display information based on the destination list
according to the other embodiment.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS
[0046] Below, using the drawings, the embodiments of the present
invention will be described in detail.
[0047] As described above, in the related art, it is possible to
know transmission terminals of participants of a conference during
the conference. However, it is not possible to know which
transmission terminals currently participate in the conference
immediately before they participate in the conference. Therefore,
there may be a case where a user participates in a conference in
which the user does not wish to participate.
[0048] In other words, a user selects a destination terminal from
among transmission terminals participating in a conference before
participating in the conference. However, there may be a case where
the thus selected destination terminal is participating in a
conference other than a conference a user expects. In such a case,
the user understands that the user made a mistake after viewing an
image from another transmission terminal after participating in the
conference.
[0049] The embodiments of the present invention have been devised
in consideration of such a situation, and an object thereof is to
provide a configuration where it is possible to check whether a
conference is one in which a user intends to participate before
actually participating in the conference.
[0050] Below, the embodiments of the present invention will be
described in detail.
<Overall Configuration of Transmission System>
[0051] FIG. 1 generally illustrates a transmission system 1
according to one embodiment. A specific example of the transmission
system 1 can be a data provisioning system unidirectionally
transmitting content data from one transmission terminal to another
transmission terminal via a transmission management system, a
communication system mutually transmitting information, feelings
and/or so among a plurality of transmission terminals via a
transmission management system, or so. The communication system is
a system for mutually transmitting information, feelings or so
among a plurality of communication terminals (corresponding to
transmission terminals) via a communication management system
(corresponding to a transmission management system). A specific
example of the communication system can be a video conference
system, a TV telephony system, a voice conference system, a voice
telephony system, a Personal Computer (PC) screen sharing system,
or so.
[0052] Assuming a video conference system as one example of a
communication system, assuming a video conference management system
as one example of a communication management system, and assuming
video conference terminals as one example of communication
terminals, a transmission system 1, a transmission management
system (or a management apparatus) 50 and transmission terminals 10
will be described.
[0053] The transmission system 1 shown in FIG. 1 includes a
plurality of transmission terminals (10aa, 10ab, . . . ), display
devices (120aa, 120ab, . . . ) for the respective transmission
terminals (10aa, 10ab, . . . ), a plurality of relay apparatuses
(30a, 30b, 30c, 30d and 30e), the transmission management system
50, a program provisioning system 90 and a maintenance system 100.
Note that, below, "transmission terminals" may be also simply
referred to as "terminals".
[0054] Note that, in the transmission system 1, a "transmission
terminal 10" denotes any one of the transmission terminals (10aa,
10ab, . . . ); a "display device 120" denotes any one of the
display devices (120aa, 120ab, . . . ); and a "relay apparatus 30"
denotes any one of the relay apparatuses (30a, 30b, 30c, 30d and
30e).
[0055] A transmission terminal 10 transmits and receives various
information to/from other apparatuses. The transmission terminal
10, for example, establishes a session with another transmission
terminal 10, and carries out a conversation by transmitting and
receiving sound data and image data through the established
session. Thus, in the transmission system 1, a video conference can
be implemented among a plurality of transmission terminals 10.
[0056] Below, "content data" denotes "image data and sound data".
Note that, data transmitted among transmission terminals 10 is not
limited to the embodiment. For example, content data can be text
data. Also, content data can include text data in addition to sound
data and image data. Also, image data can be moving picture, static
picture or can be one including both moving picture and static
picture.
[0057] In the transmission system 1, when a video conference is
started, a user who wishes to start it operates a predetermined
transmission terminal 10, and thus, the transmission terminal 10
transmits start request information to the transmission management
system 50.
[0058] Start request information is information requesting to start
a session to be used for a video conference and includes
information designating another transmission terminal 10 with which
the session is established. Below, a transmission terminal which
transmits start request information will be referred to as a start
request terminal. Also, another transmission terminal 10 designated
for establishing the session with the start request terminal will
be referred to as a destination terminal.
[0059] Note that, a destination terminal can be a single
transmission terminal 10 or two or more transmission terminals 10.
In other words, in the transmission system 1, it is possible to
implement a video conference using a session established not only
between two transmission terminals 10 but also among three or more
transmission terminals 10.
[0060] Further, in the transmission system 1, it is also possible
that, after a session has been already established and a video
conference has been started, a user can newly participate in the
video conference. A user who wishes to participate in the video
conference operates a predetermined transmission terminal 10, and
thereby, the operated transmission terminal 10 transmits to the
transmission management system 10 a participation request
information designating the already established session (referred
to as an "established session") used for the video conference in
which the user wishes to participate. Hereinafter, a transmission
terminal 10 transmitting participation request information will be
referred to as a "participating request terminal".
[0061] The transmission management system 50 unitarily manages the
transmission terminals 10 and the relay apparatuses 30. By
establishing a session between transmission terminals 10, the
transmission management system 50 implements a video conference for
conversations or so between the transmission terminals 10.
[0062] When receiving start request information for a session from
a predetermined transmission terminal 10, the transmission
management system 50 establishes a session between the transmission
terminal (start request terminal) which has transmitted the start
request information and the destination terminal, and starts a
video conference. Also, when receiving participation request
information from a predetermined transmission terminal 10 for an
already established session, the transmission management system 50
determines whether to allow the participating request terminal to
participate in the established session.
[0063] A plurality of routers (70a, 70b, 70c, 70d, 70ab and 70cd)
shown in FIG. 1 select optimal routes for transmitting content
data. Note that, in the transmission system 1, a "router 70"
denotes any one of the routers (70a, 70b, 70c, 70d, 70ab and 70cd).
A relay apparatus 30 relays content data between a plurality of
transmission terminals 10.
[0064] The program provisioning system 90 has a hard disk (HD)
storing a terminal program for causing each transmission terminal
10 to carry out various functions and/or implement various
functional parts, and transmits the terminal program to each
transmission terminal 10. The HD of the program provisioning system
90 also stores a relay apparatus program for causing each relay
apparatus 30 to carry out various functions and/or implement
various functional parts, and transmits the relay apparatus program
to each relay apparatus 30. The HD of the program provisioning
system 90 also stores a transmission management program for causing
the transmission management system 50 to carry out various
functions and/or implement various functional parts, and transmits
the transmission management program to the transmission management
system 50.
[0065] The maintenance system 100 is a computer that carries out
maintenance or management of at least one of the transmission
terminals 10, the relay apparatuses 30, the transmission management
system 50 and the program provisioning system 90. For example, when
the maintenance system 100 is installed in the own country while
the transmission terminals 10, the relay apparatus 30, the
transmission management system 50 or the program provisioning
system 90 is installed in a foreign country, the maintenance system
100 uses a communication network 2 to remotely carry out
maintenance and/or management of at least one of the transmission
terminals 10, the relay apparatuses 30, the transmission management
system 50 and the program provisioning system 90. Also, the
maintenance system 100 carries out maintenance such as management
of the apparatus type numbers, the manufacture numbers, the sales
destinations, the maintenance and inspection or the fault histories
of at least one of the transmission terminals 10, the relay
apparatuses 30, the transmission management system 50 and the
program provisioning system 90 without using the communication
system 2.
[0066] Also, the transmission terminals (10aa, 10ab, 10ac, 10a . .
. ), the relay apparatuses 30a and the router 70a are connected via
a LAN 2a in a communicatable manner. The transmission terminals
(10ba, 10bb, 10bc, 10b . . . ), the relay apparatus 30b and the
router 70b are connected via a LAN 2b in a communicatable manner.
Also, the LAN 2a and the LAN 2b are connected via a private line
2ab including the router 70ab in a communicable manner and are
built in a predetermined area A. For example, the area A is Japan,
the LAN 2a is built in a Tokyo office and the LAN 2b is built in an
Osaka office.
[0067] The transmission terminals (10ca, 10cb, 10cc, 10c . . . ),
the relay apparatus 30c, and the router 70c are connected via a LAN
2c in a communicable manner. The transmission terminals (10da,
10db, 10dc, 10d . . . ), the relay apparatus 30d and the router 70d
are connected via a LAN 2d in a communicable manner. Also, the LAN
2c and the LAN 2d are connected via a private line 2cd including
the router 70cd in a communicable manner and is built in a
predetermined area B. For example, the area B is the U.S.A., the
LAN 2c is built in a New York office and the LAN 2d is built in a
Washington D. C. office. The area A and the area B are connected
via the internet 2i from the respective routers (70ab, 70cd).
[0068] Also, the transmission management system 50 and the program
provisioning system 90 can be connected with the transmission
terminals 10 and the relay apparatuses 30 via the Internet 2i in a
communicable manner. The transmission management system 50 and the
program provisioning system 90 can be installed in the areas A and
B, or can be installed another area(s) than the areas A and B.
[0069] Also, the relay apparatus 30e is connected to the
transmission terminals 10 via the Internet 2i in a commutable
manner. The relay apparatus 30e continuously operates, and, for the
purpose of being not likely to be affected by the communication
amounts in the local areas of the areas A and B, is installed in
another area. Thereby, when a transmission terminal 10 carries out
a conversation with another transmission terminal installed in
another local area, the relay apparatus 30e is used for relaying
content data. Also, even in a case where a conversation is carried
out within the same local area, the relay apparatus 30e can be used
for an emergency use when the relay apparatus at this area does not
work.
[0070] Note that, in the transmission system 1, the communication
network 2 is built using the LAN 2a, the LAN 2b, the private line
tab, the Internet 2i, the private line 2cd, the LAN 2c and the LAN
2d. The communication network 2 can include not only a wired
part(s) but also a wireless part(s) for implementing
communication.
[0071] Also, in FIG. 1, numerals of 4 digits shown under each
transmission terminal 10, each relay apparatus 30, the transmission
management system 50, each router 70, the program provisioning
system 90 and the maintenance system 100 simply show IP addresses
according to general IPv4. For example, the transmission terminal
10aa has the IP address of "1.2.1.3". It is also possible to use
IPv6 instead of IPv4. However, for the sake of easy explanation,
the description will be made using IPv4.
<Hardware Configuration of Transmission System>
[0072] FIG. 2 is a hardware configuration diagram of each
transmission terminal 10 included in the transmission system 1. As
shown in FIG. 2, the transmission terminal 10 includes a Central
Processing Unit (CPU) 101 controlling operations of the entire
transmission terminal 10, a Read-Only Memory (ROM) 102 storing the
terminal program, a Random Access Memory (RAM) 103 used as a work
area of the CPU 101, a flash memory 104 storing various information
such as image data, sound data and so forth, a Solid State Drive
(SSD) 105 controlling reading and writing from/to the flash memory
104 under the control of the CPU 101, a medium drive 107
controlling reading and writing (storing) data from/to a recording
medium 106 such as a flash memory, operating buttons operated by a
user for selecting a destination terminal 10 or so, a power switch
109 for turning on or off the power in the transmission terminal
10, and a network interface (I/F) ill for data transmission using
the communication network 2.
[0073] Also, the transmission terminal 10 includes a built-in-type
camera 112 photographing an object under the control of the CPU 101
to acquire image data, an imaging device I/F 113 controlling to
drive the camera 112, a built-in-type microphone 114 inputting
sound, a built-in-type speaker 115 outputting sound, a sound
input/output I/F 116 processing input and output of a sound signal
between the microphone 114 and the speaker under the control of the
CPU 101, a display I/F 117 transmitting image data to a display
device 120 externally installed under the control of the CPU 101,
an external apparatus connection I/F 118 for connecting various
external apparatuses, an alarm lamp 119 reporting faults in various
functions of the transmission terminal 10, and a bus line 110 such
as an address bus, a data bus and so forth electrically connecting
the above-mentioned respective parts as shown in FIG. 2.
[0074] The display device 120 is a display part including a liquid
crystal or an organic EL displaying an image of an object,
operation icons and so forth. Also, the display device 120 is
connected to the display I/F 117 via a cable 120c. The cable 120c
can be an analog RGB (VGA) signal cable, a component video cable,
or a High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) (registered
trademark) or a Digital Video Interactive (DVI) signal cable.
[0075] The camera 112 includes a lens and a solid imaging device
converting light into a charge and outputting an electronic signal
of an image of an object. As a specific example of the solid
imaging device, a Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS),
Charge Coupled Device (CCD) or so can be used.
[0076] To the external apparatus connection I/F 118, an external
apparatus such as an eternally installed camera, an externally
installed microphone, an externally installed speaker or so can be
electrically connected via a Universal Serial Bus (USB) cable or so
inserted into a connection hole 1132 of a housing 110 described
lager using FIG. 4. When the eternally installed camera is
connected, it is driven in preference to the built-in-type camera
112 under the control of the CPU 101. When the externally installed
microphone or the externally installed speaker is connected, it is
driven in preference to the built-in-type microphone 112 or the
built-in-type speaker under the control of the CPU 101.
[0077] Note that the recording medium 106 has such a configuration
that it is detachable to the transmission terminal 10. Also, as
long as it is nonvolatile memory to read or write data
therefrom/thereto under the control of the CPU 101, it can be not
only the flash memory 104 but also an Electrically Erasable and
Programmable ROM (EEPROM) or so.
[0078] Further, the terminal program can be circulated after being
recorded in a computer-readable recording medium (the recording
medium 106 or so) in an installable format or an executable format.
Also, the terminal program can be stored not only in the flash
memory 104 but in the ROM 102.
[0079] FIG. 3 is a hardware configuration diagram of the
transmission management system 50 of the transmission system 1. The
transmission management system 50 includes a CPU 201 controlling
operations of the entire transmission management system 50, a ROM
202 storing the transmission management program, a RAM 203 used as
a work area of the CPU 201, a Hard Disk (HD) storing various data,
a Hard Disk Drive (HDD) 205 controlling reading and writing various
data from/to the HD 204 under the control of the CPU 201, a medium
drive 207 controlling reading and writing (storing) data from/to a
recording medium 206 such as a flash memory, a display device 208
displaying various information such as a cursor, a menu, a window,
characters/letters, images and so forth, a network I/F 208 for
transmitting and receiving data using the communication network 2,
a keyboard 211 including a plurality of keys for inputting
characters/letters, numerals, various instructions and so forth, a
mouse 212 for inputting a selection or execution of various
instructions, a selection of processing target, a movement of a
cursor, or so, a CD-ROM drive 214 controlling reading and writing
data from/to a Compact Disk Read-Only Memory (CD-ROM) 213 as one
example of a detachable recording medium, and a bus line 210 such
as an address bus, a data bus and so forth electrically connecting
the above-mentioned parts as shown in FIG. 3.
[0080] Note that, the transmission management program can be
circulated after being recorded in a computer-readable recording
medium (the recording medium 206, the CD-ROM 213 or so) in an
installable format or an executable format.
[0081] Because the relay apparatus 30 has the same hardware
configuration as the transmission management system 50, duplicate
description will be omitted. However, the ROM 202 stores the relay
apparatus program for controlling the relay apparatus 30. Also in
this case, the relay apparatus program can be circulated after
being recorded in a computer-readable recording medium (the
recording medium 206, the CD-ROM 213 or so) in an installable
format or an executable format.
[0082] Also, because the program provisioning system 90 has the
same hardware configuration as the transmission management system
50, duplicate description will be omitted. However, the ROM 202
stores the program-providing program for controlling the program
provisioning system 90. Also in this case, the program-providing
program can be circulated after being recorded in a
computer-readable recording medium (the recording medium 206, the
CD-ROM 213 or so) in an installable format or an executable
format.
[0083] Also, because the maintenance system 100 has the same
hardware configuration as the transmission management system 50,
duplicate description will be omitted. However, the ROM 202 stores
the maintenance program for controlling the maintenance system 100.
Also in this case, the maintenance program can be circulated after
being recorded in a computer-readable recording medium (the
recording medium 206, the CD-ROM 213 or so) in an installable
format or an executable format.
[0084] Note that, as another example of the detachable recording
medium, a computer-readable recording medium such as a Compact Disc
Recordable (CD-R), a Digital Versatile Disk (DVD), a Blu-ray disk
or so can be used to record and circulate each of the
above-mentioned programs.
[0085] FIG. 4 illustrates an external appearance of each
transmission terminal 10. Below, the longitudinal direction of a
transmission terminal 10 corresponds to an x-axis direction, the
direction in the horizontal plane perpendicular to the x-axis
direction corresponds to a y-axis direction and the direction
(vertical direction) perpendicular to both the x-axis direction and
the y-axis direction corresponds to a z-axis direction.
[0086] As shown in FIG. 4, the transmission terminal 10 includes a
housing 1100, an arm 1200 and a camera housing 1300. Thereamong, on
a front wall surface 1110 of the housing 1100, an air suction
surface including a plurality of air suction holes is provided. On
a rear wall surface 1120 of the housing 1100, an air ejection
surface including a plurality of air ejection holes is provided.
Thereby, when a cooling fan inside the housing 1100 is driven,
external air on the front side of the transmission terminal 10 is
suctioned via the air suction surface, and is ejected to the rear
side of the transmission terminal 10 via the air ejection surface
121. On a right wall surface 1130 of the housing 1100, a sound
collection hole 1131 is formed such that it is possible to collect
sound such as voice, sound other than voice, noise and so forth
through the built-in-type microphone 114.
[0087] On the right wall surface 1130 of the housing 1100, an
operation panel 1150 is formed. On the operation panel 1150, a
plurality of operating buttons (108a to 108e), the power switch 109
and the alarm lamp 119 are installed. Also, a sound output surface
1151 having a plurality of sound output holes is formed there for
passing through an output sound of the built-in-type speaker 115.
On a left wall surface 1140 of the housing 1100, an accommodating
section 1160 as a recess is formed for accommodating the arm 1200
and the camera housing 1300. On the right wall surface of the
housing 1100, a plurality of connection holes (1132a-1132c) are
formed for electrically connecting the cable to the external
apparatus connection I/F 118. On the left wall surface 1140 of the
housing 1100, connection holes are formed for electrically
connecting the cable 120c for the display device 120 to the
external apparatus connection I/F 118.
[0088] Note that, below, an "operating button 108" denotes any one
of the operating buttons (108a-108e), and a "connection hole 1132"
denotes any one of the connection holes (1132a-1132c).
[0089] Next, the arm 1200 is mounted to the housing 1100 via a
torque hinge 1210. The arm 1200 is configured to be vertically
rotatable in range of a tilt angle .theta.1 of 135 degrees with
respect to the housing 1100. FIG. 4 shows the state where the tilt
angle .theta.1 of 90 degrees.
[0090] The camera housing 1300 includes the built-in-type camera
112 which can be used to photograph a user, a book, a room and so
forth. Also, to the camera housing 1300, a torque hinge 1310 is
formed. The camera housing 1300 is mounted to the arm 1200 via the
torque hinge 1310. Assuming that the state of the camera housing
1300 with respect to the arm 1200 shown in FIG. 4 corresponds to 0
degrees, the camera housing 1300 is configured be rotatable in a
vertical direction and a horizontal direction in a range of a pan
angle .theta.2 of .+-.180 degrees and in a range of a tilt angle
.theta.3 of .+-.45 degrees.
[0091] Note that, as another example, each transmission terminal 10
can be a common general-purpose computer. In this case, an
externally installed microphone and an externally installed camera
are connected when the computer used as the transmission terminal
10 does not includes a microphone and a camera. Thus, a
general-purpose computer can be used as the transmission terminal
10 according to the embodiment. Also, when a general-purpose
computer is used as the transmission terminal 10, an application
for causing the transmission terminal 10 to carry out the process
of the transmission terminal 10 described later is installed.
[0092] Note that each relay apparatus 30, the transmission
management system 50, the program provisioning system 90 and the
maintenance system 100 have the same external appearances as those
of common server computers. Thus, description of the external
appearances therefore will be omitted.
<Functional Configuration of Transmission System>
[0093] Next, a functional configuration of the transmission system
1 will be described. FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating each
transmission terminal, apparatus and system included in the
transmission system 1. In FIG. 5, a transmission terminal 10, a
relay apparatus 30 and the transmission management system 50 are
connected via the communication network 2 in such a manner that
they are capable of carrying out data communication. Because the
program provisioning system 90 and the maintenance system 100 shown
in FIG. 1 do not directly relate to communication for a video
conference, they are omitted in FIG. 5.
<Functional Configuration of Transmission Terminal>
[0094] Each transmission terminal 10 includes a communication part
11, an operation input reception part 12, a login request part 13,
an imaging part 14, a sound input part 15a, a sound output part
15b, a display control part 16, a delay detection part 18 and a
storing and reading process part 19. The respective parts are
functions or parts implemented by operations of the CPU 101
according to the program stored in the ROM 102 shown in FIG. 2.
Also, the transmission terminal 10 includes a volatile storage part
1002 provided by the RAM 103 shown in FIG. 2 and a nonvolatile
storage part 1000 provided by the flash memory 104 shown in FIG.
2.
<Functional Parts in Transmission Terminal>
[0095] Next, each part in the transmission terminal will be
described in detail. The communication part 11 of the transmission
terminal 10 is implemented by the network I/F 11 shown in FIG. 2,
and transmits and receives various data (or information) via the
communication network 2 to/from another transmission terminal,
apparatus or system.
[0096] The communication part 11 starts reception of state
information indicating a state of each transmission terminal 10 as
a destination terminal candidate from the transmission management
system 50 before this transmission terminal 10 establishes a
session with another transmission terminal and starts a video
conference through a conversation.
[0097] A destination terminal candidate is a transmission terminal
10 designatable by this transmission terminal 10 as a counter part
of the video conference, in other words, a counter part of the
session. In other words, this transmission terminal 10 is not
eligible to establish a session with another transmission terminal
10 which is not previously registered as a destination terminal
candidate, and thus, is not eligible to carry out a video
conference therewith. Note that a destination terminal candidate is
a candidate of a counter-part terminal to carry out a video
conference, in other words, a counter-part terminal candidate.
[0098] Note that, state information indicates an operation state of
each transmission terminal 10 (i.e., a state of "on line" or "off
line") and a detailed state of, in "on line", on conversation or
waiting (hereinafter, referred to as a "communication state").
Also, state information indicates, not only the operation state and
the communication state of each transmission terminal 10 but also
various states such as the cable being removed from the
transmission terminal 10, only sound being able to be output and no
image being able to be output, such a setting being made that sound
is not output (MUTE), and so forth. Below, as one example, a case
will be described where state information indicates an operation
state and a communication state.
[0099] When this transmission terminal 10 acts as a start request
terminal, the communication part 11 transmits start request
information to the transmission management system 50. The start
request information is information requesting to start a session to
be used for a video conference. The start request information
includes, specifically, information indicating to request a start,
the terminal ID of the start request terminal which has transmitted
the start request information, the terminal ID identifying the
destination terminal with which a session is established and
restriction information indicating whether to set participation
restrictions inhibiting participation of a transmission terminal
other than the destination terminal in the session. Note that, the
terminal ID is information identifying a transmission terminal
10.
[0100] The start request information includes, specifically,
"Invite" or "Private Invite", "Invite" is information requesting a
start, and is restriction information not setting the participation
restrictions. "Private Invite" is information indicating a start
and is restriction information setting the participation
restrictions.
[0101] The restriction information will be described in detail.
According to the transmission system 1, another transmission
terminal 10 is allowed to participate in an already established
session. However, there may be a conference where it is preferable
not to allow another transmission terminal 10 to participate like a
conference having high confidentiality or so. Therefore, in the
transmission system 1, participation of another transmission
terminal 10 in an already established session is controlled
according to whether the restriction information sets the
participation restrictions.
[0102] Also, when the transmission terminal 10 operates as a
participating request terminal, the communication part 11 transmits
participation request information to the transmission management
system 50. The participation request information is information
requesting to participate in an established session used for an
already started video conference. The participation request
information includes, specifically, information "Call" indicating
that this information is participation request information, the
terminal ID of the participating request terminal which transmits
the participation request information and the terminal ID of an
on-participation transmission terminal 10 which already
participates in the established session in which the participation
request transmission terminal wishes to participate. The
on-participation transmission terminal is, specifically, the start
request terminal or the destination terminal included in the start
request information transmitted when the established session was
established. The communication part 11 functions as a start request
information acquisition part acquiring the start request
information and a participation request information acquisition
part acquiring the participation request information.
[0103] The operation input reception part 12 is implemented by the
operating buttons 108 and the power switch 109 shown in FIG. 2, and
receives various inputs from the user. For example, when the user
turns on the power switch 109 shown in FIG. 2, the operation input
reception part 12 shown in FIG. 5 receives the turning-on operation
and actually turns on the power.
[0104] The login request part 13 is implemented by the CPU 101
shown in FIG. 2 and automatically transmits login request
information indicating to request login and the current IP address
of this transmission terminal 10 from the communication part 11 to
the transmission management system 50 via the communication network
2 in response to the above-mentioned turning on the power. Also,
when the user turns off the power switch 109, the communication
part 11 transmits state information indicating to turn off the
power to the transmission management system 50, and then, the
operation input reception part 12 actually turns off the power
completely. Thereby, the transmission management system 50 can
understand that the power is turned off in the transmission
terminal 10.
[0105] The imaging part 14 is implemented by the CPU 101 shown in
FIG. 2, and the camera 112 and the imaging device I/F 113 also
shown in FIG. 2, photographs an object, and outputs corresponding
image data. The sound input part 15a is implemented by the sound
input/output I/F 116 shown in FIG. 2, and, after the microphone 114
converts the user's voice into a sound signal, the sound input part
15a inputs corresponding sound data. The sound output part 15b is
implemented by the CPU 101 shown in FIG. 2, and the sound
input/output I/F 116 shown in FIG. 2, outputs a sound signal
corresponding to sound data to the speaker 115 so as to cause the
speaker 115 to output a corresponding sound (voice).
[0106] The display control part 16 is implemented by the display
I/F 117 shown in FIG. 2, and carries out control for transmitting
image data to the externally installed display device 120. The
display control part 16 causes the display device 120 to display a
destination list including respective destination names reflecting
the state information received after the start of reception by the
communication part 11 before this transmission terminal 10 as a
request source starts a conversation for a video conference with a
transmission terminal 10 as a desired destination.
[0107] The delay detection part 18 is implemented by the CPU 101
shown in FIG. 2, and detects the delay time (ms) of image data or
sound data transmitted from another transmission terminal 10 via a
relay apparatus 30.
[0108] The storing and reading process part 19 is implemented by
the CPU 101 shown in FIG. 2 and, for example, the SSD 105 shown in
FIG. 2, stores various data in the nonvolatile storage part 1000
and reads various information from the nonvolatile storage part
1000. The nonvolatile storage part 1000 stores the terminal IDs
(i.e., identifiers) identifying transmission terminals 10,
passwords, and so forth. Further, the storing and reading process
part 19 stores in the volatile storage part 1002 various data, and
reads various data from the volatile storage part 1002. The
volatile storage part 1002 stores content data received when
carrying out a conversation with the destination terminal in such a
manner that the content data is overwritten each time of reception.
Image data before being used for the overwriting is, used to
display an image on the display device 120 and a sound is output
from the speaker 115 by sound data before it being used for the
overwriting.
(Functional Configuration of Relay Apparatus)
[0109] Next, functions and parts of each relay apparatus 30 will be
described. The relay apparatus 30 includes a communication part 31,
a state detection part 32, a data quality check part 33, a change
quality management part 34, a data quality change part 35 and a
storing and reading process part 39. The respective parts are the
functions or the parts implemented by the CPU 201 according to the
program stored by the ROM 202 shown in FIG. 3. Also, the relay
apparatus 30 includes a nonvolatile storage part 3000 implemented
by the HD 204 shown in FIG. 3 and stores various data and
information kept even after the power of the relay apparatus 30 is
turned off.
(Change Quality Management Table)
[0110] The nonvolatile storage part 3000 has a change quality
management DataBase (DB) 3001 built therein including a change
quality management table shown in FIG. 6. In the change quality
management table, the IP addresses of transmission terminals 10 to
which image data is relayed and image quality of the image data
relayed by the relay apparatus 30 are managed in a manner of being
associated therebetween.
[0111] The resolution of an image of image data handled by the
transmission system 1 will be described using FIGS. 7A, 7B and 7C.
FIGS. 7A-7C are conceptual diagrams illustrating image quality of
image data. Images of low resolution used as base images, as shown
in FIG. 7A, having 160 pixels along the horizontal direction and
120 pixels along the vertical direction, images of medium
resolution, as shown in FIG. 7B, having 320 pixels along the
horizontal direction and 240 pixels along the vertical direction,
and images of high resolution, as shown in FIG. 7C, having 640
pixels along the horizontal direction and 480 pixels along the
vertical direction, are handled. Thereamong, when a narrow band
path is used, image data of low image quality including only image
data of low resolution as a base image is relayed. When an
available band is relatively wide, image data of medium image
quality including image data of low resolution as a base image and
image data of medium resolution are relayed. When an available band
is very wide, image data of high image quality including image data
of low resolution as a base image, image data of medium resolution
and image data of high resolution are relayed. For example, in the
change quality management table shown in FIG. 6, when the relay
apparatus 30 relays image data to a destination terminal having the
IP address "1.3.2.4", the image quality (the quality of the image)
to be relayed is "high image quality".
<Respective Functional Parts of Relay Apparatus>
[0112] Next, the respective functions of each relay apparatus 30
will be described in detail. Note that, below, when the respective
parts of the relay apparatus 30 are described, relations with main
parts for implementing the respective parts of the relay apparatus
30 shown in FIG. 3 will also be described.
[0113] The communication part 31 of the relay apparatus 30 shown in
FIG. 5 is implemented by the network I/F 209 shown in FIG. 3, and
transmits and receives various data (or information) to/from
another transmission terminal, apparatus or system via the
communication network 2. The state detection part 32 is implemented
by the CPU 201 shown in FIG. 3, and detects the operation state of
the relay apparatus 30 that has this state detection part 32. The
operation state can be the state of "on line", "off line" or
"fault".
[0114] The data quality check part 33 is implemented by the CPU 201
shown in FIG. 3, searches the change quality management table (see
FIG. 6) using the IP address of the destination terminal as a
search key, thus extracting the image quality of the corresponding
image data to be relayed, and thereby, acquires the image quality
of the image data to be relayed. The change quality management part
34 is implemented by the CPU 201 shown in FIG. 3, and changes the
contents of the change quality management table of the change
quality management DB 3001 based on the quality information,
described later, transmitted from the transmission management
system 50. For example, a case will be assumed where, during a
video conference through transmission and reception of image data
of high image quality between a start request terminal (a
transmission terminal 10aa) having the terminal ID of "01aa" and a
destination terminal (a transmission terminal 10db) having the
terminal ID of "01db", another video conference is started via the
communication network 2 by a start request terminal (a transmission
terminal 10bb) and a destination terminal (a transmission terminal
10ca), or so. Thereby, a delay of reception of image data occurs in
the destination terminal (the transmission terminal 10db). In such
a case, the relay apparatus 30 needs to reduce the image quality of
the image data that is being relayed from high image quality to
medium image quality. In such a case, the contents of the change
quality management table of the change quality management DB 3001
are changed based on the quality information indicating medium
image quality in such a manner that the image quality of the image
data to be relayed will be reduced from high image quality to
medium image quality.
[0115] The data quality change part 35 is implemented by the CPU
201 shown in FIG. 3 and changes the image quality of the image data
transmitted from the transmission terminal 10 that is the
transmission source based on the thus changed contents of the
change quality management table of the change quality management DB
3001. The storing and reading process part 39 is implemented by the
HDD 205 shown in FIG. 3, stores various data in the nonvolatile
storage part 3000 and reads various data from the nonvolatile
storage part 3000.
<Functional Configuration of Transmission Management
System>
[0116] Next, the functions or the parts of the transmission
management system 50 will be described. The transmission management
system 50 includes a communication part 51, a terminal
authentication part 52, a state management part 53, a terminal
extraction part 54, a terminal state acquisition part 55, a relay
apparatus selection part 56, a session management part 57, a
quality determination part 58, a storing and reading process part
59, a delay time management part 60, a change request information
determination part 61, a destination determination part 62 and a
participation determination part 63. The respective parts are the
functions or the parts implemented by operations of the CPU 201
according to the program stored in the ROM 202 of FIG. 3. Also, the
transmission management system 50 includes a nonvolatile storage
part 5000 build in the HD 204 shown in FIG. 3 and stores various
data or information that is kept even when the power of the
transmission management system 50 is turned off. The nonvolatile
storage part 5000 stores various information. Further, the
transmission management system 50 has a volatile storage part 5100
build in the RAM 203 shown in FIG. 3.
(Relay Apparatus Management Table)
[0117] In the nonvolatile storage part 5000, a relay apparatus
management DB 5001 is built including a relay apparatus management
table shown in FIG. 8. In the relay apparatus management table, the
operation state of the relay apparatus 30, the received date/time
when the state information indicating the operation state is
received by the transmission management system 50, the IP address
of the relay apparatus 30 and the maximum data transmission rate
(Mbps) in the relay apparatus 30 are managed in a manner of being
associated for each relay apparatus ID identifying the
corresponding relay apparatus 30. For example, the relay apparatus
management table shown in FIG. 3 shows that the relay apparatus 30a
having the relay apparatus ID having "111a" has the operation state
"on line"; the transmission management system 50 received the state
information at the date and time "Nov. 10, 2009, 13:00"; the IP
address of the relay apparatus 30a is "1.2.1.2"; and the maximum
data transmission rate in the relay apparatus 30a is 100 Mbps.
(Terminal Authentication Management Table)
[0118] Further, in the nonvolatile storage part 5000, a terminal
authentication management DB 5002 is built including a terminal
authentication management table shown in FIG. 9. In the terminal
authentication management table, respective passwords are managed
in a manner of being associated for the respective terminal IDs of
all the transmission terminals 10 managed by the transmission
management system 50. The terminal IDs are information identifying
the corresponding transmission terminals 10. The passwords are
information to be used to authenticate the corresponding
transmission terminals 10. For example, the terminal authentication
management table shown in FIG. 9 shows that the transmission
terminal 10aa has the terminal ID "01aa" and the password
"aaaa".
[0119] Note that, the terminal IDs and the relay apparatus IDs in
the transmission system 1 are identification information such as
languages, characters/letters, symbols, or various marks or such to
be used to uniquely identify the corresponding transmission
terminals 10 and the relay apparatuses 30, respectively. The
terminal IDs and the relay apparatus IDs can be identification
information in which two or more of languages, characters/letters,
symbols, or various marks are combined.
(Terminal Management Table)
[0120] Also, in the nonvolatile storage part 5000, a terminal
management DB 5003 is built including a terminal management table
shown in FIG. 10. In the terminal management table, terminal names,
the operation states of the transmission terminals 10, the
communication states with other transmission terminals, the
received date/time when login requests described later are received
by the transmission management system 50 and the IP addresses of
the transmission terminals 10 are managed in a manner of being
associated for the terminal IDs of the respective transmission
terminals 10.
[0121] The operation states can be "on line" where the power is
turned on and communication can be carried out or communication is
currently being carried out and "off line" where communication
cannot be carried out because the power is turned off or so.
[0122] The communication state can be any one of "Calling"
indicating a state of calling another transmission terminal 10,
i.e., waiting for a response after transmitting a start request
information for a session to be used for a video conference;
"Ringing" indicating a state of being called by another
transmission terminal 10, i.e., not having completed a response to
start request information received from another transmission
terminal 10; "Accepted" indicating a state where although a
permission response to start request information from another
transmission terminal 10 is completed, a session is not yet
established or although reception of a permission response to start
request information from the own transmission terminal 10 is
completed, a session is not yet established; "Busy" indicating a
state where a session with another transmission terminal 10 is
established and content data for a video conference is being
transmitted; "None" indicating a state of standby where no
communication is carried out with another transmission terminal,
and so forth
[0123] Note that these communication states are those established
in response to start request information including the restriction
information not setting participation restrictions and
corresponding to sessions not setting participation restrictions.
Further, the transmission management system 50 also manages
communication states which are those established in response to
start request information including the restriction information
setting participation restrictions and corresponding to sessions
setting participation restrictions as those different from the
communication states corresponding to sessions not setting
participation restrictions. In other words, corresponding to
"Calling", "Ringing", "Accepted" and "Busy" corresponding to
sessions not setting participation restrictions, "Private Calling",
"Private Ringing", "Private Accepted" and "Private Busy"
corresponding to sessions setting participation restrictions are
managed, respectively. Thus, the communication states are managed
in a manner of being distinguished depending on whether to set
participation restrictions. Thus, according to the transmission
management system 50 in the embodiment, it is possible to
determine, according to the communication states, whether
participation restrictions are set.
[0124] Note that, according to the present embodiment, it is
assumed that sessions are established where the restriction
information sets participation restrictions. Therefore, according
to the present embodiment, only "Private Calling", "Private
Ringing", "Private Accepted", "Private Busy" are used as the
communication states other than "None".
[0125] For example, the terminal management table shown in FIG. 10
indicates that the transmission terminal 10aa having the terminal
ID "01aa" has the terminal name "Japan Tokyo Office AA transmission
terminal", the operation state "on line", the communication state
"None" indicating a standby state of not carrying out communication
with another transmission terminal, the transmission management
system 50 received the login request information at the date and
time "Nov. 10, 2009, 13:40" and the transmission terminal 10aa has
the IP address "1.2.1.3".
[0126] Also, in the terminal management table shown in FIG. 10,
focusing at the communication states, the transmission terminal
having the terminal ID "01ba" has the communication state "Private
Calling", the transmission terminal having the terminal ID "01bb"
has the communication state "Private Busy" and the transmission
terminal having the terminal ID "01da" has the communication state
"Private Busy".
(Destination List Management Table)
[0127] Further, in the nonvolatile storage part 5000, a destination
list management DB 5004 is built including a destination list
management table shown in FIG. 11. For the respective terminal IDs
of start request terminals that are transmission terminals 10 as
request sources of start request information for sessions used for
video conferences including conversations managed by the
transmission management system 50, the terminal IDs identifying
destination terminal candidates that are transmission terminals 10
acting as destination candidates of content data transmitted by the
transmission terminals 10 as the start request terminals are
managed in a manner of being associated, in the destination list
management table. For example, in the destination list management
table shown in FIG. 11, the destination terminal candidates to
which the transmission terminal (the transmission terminal 10aa)
having the terminal ID "01aa" is eligible to request a start of a
video conference are the transmission terminal 10ab having the
terminal ID "01ab", the transmission terminal 10ba having the
terminal ID "01ba", the transmission terminal 10db having the
terminal ID "01db" and the transmission terminal 10dc having the
terminal ID "01dc". These destination terminal candidates are
updated through addition or deletion in response to a request of
addition or deletion from the start request terminal to the
transmission management system 50, if any.
(Session Management Table)
[0128] Also, in the nonvolatile storage part 5000, a session
management DB 5005 is built including a session management table
shown in FIG. 12. The relay apparatus IDs of the relay apparatuses
30 used for relaying content data in sessions, the terminal IDs of
the start request terminals having transmitted the start request
information for the sessions, the terminal IDs of the destination
terminals designated as counter parts of in the start request
information for the sessions, the delay times (ms) of reception of
image data in the destination terminals, and the received
dates/times when the delay information indicating the delay times
transmitted from the destination terminals are received by the
transmission management system 50 are managed in a manner of being
associated for the respective session IDs where content data is
transmitted between transmission terminals, in the session
management table. For example, the session management table shown
in FIG. 12 indicates that the relay apparatus 30e (the relay
apparatus ID "111e") selected in the session executed using the
session ID "sel" is relaying content data between the start request
terminal 10aa having the terminal ID "01aa" and the destination
terminal 10db having the terminal ID "01db", and the delay time is
200 (ms) at the destination terminal 10db at the time of "Nov. 10,
2009, 14:00". Note that, when a video conference is carried out
between two transmission terminals 10, it is possible that the
received date/time of the delay information is managed based on the
delay information transmitted by not the destination terminal but
the start request terminal. However, when a video conference is
carried out among three or more transmission terminals 10, the
received date/time of the delay information is managed based on the
delay information transmitted from the transmission terminal at the
side of receiving content data.
(Quality Management Table)
[0129] Further, in the nonvolatile storage part 5000, a quality
management DB 5007 is built including a quality management table
shown in FIG. 13. In the quality management table, the image
qualities (qualities of the images) to be relayed by a relay
apparatus 30 are associated and managed corresponding to the delay
times (ms) at start request terminals or destination terminals.
(Relay Apparatus Selection Management Table)
[0130] Further, in the nonvolatile storage part 5000, a relay
apparatus selection management DB 5008 is built including a relay
apparatus selection management table shown in FIG. 14. The relay
apparatus IDs of relay apparatuses 30 to be used to relay content
data are associated with the terminal IDs of all the transmission
terminals 10 managed by the transmission management system 50 and
are managed in the relay apparatus selection management table.
(State Change Management Table)
[0131] Also, in the nonvolatile storage part 5000, a state change
management DB 5009 is built including a state change management
table shown in FIGS. 15 and 16. In the state change management
table of FIG. 15, change request information indicating requests to
change the communication states between transmission terminals,
before-change state information indicating the communication states
before being changed by the state management part 53 described
later and change information indicating the communication states
after being changed by the state management part 53 are associated
and managed. Also, in the state change management table of FIG. 16,
the change request information, terminal information for
identifying the start request terminals and the destination
terminals, the before-change state information and the change
information are associated and managed.
[0132] The state change management table of FIG. 16 indicates that
when having received change request information "Private Invite",
the transmission management system 50 changes the communication
state "None" of the start request terminal into "Private Calling",
and changes the communication state "None" of the destination
terminal into "Private Ringing". Note that the change request
information can be any one of "Invite", "Private Invite" and
"Accept" shown in FIG. 16, and "Join", "Call" and "Leave" shown
FIG. 15, and so forth.
[0133] Note that, according to the present embodiment, it is
assumed that sessions are established where the restriction
information sets the participation restrictions. Therefore, in
FIGS. 15 and 16, only the before-change state information and the
change information "Private Accepted", "Private Busy", "Private
Calling", "Private Ringing", "Private Accepted" and "Private Busy"
are used. Also, for the same reason, according to the present
embodiment, the change request information "Invite" shown in FIG.
16 is not used.
[0134] "Invite" is information included in the start request
information, and is the change request information along with
transmission of the start request information. "Accept" is the
change request information along with reception of a response to
the start request information, and indicates a start of
communication, i.e., indicates to permit establishing a session.
"Join" is the change request information along with a completion of
establishment of a session corresponding to the start request
information, and indicates to request to start relaying content
data. "Call" is information included in a participation request, is
the change request information along with transmission of the
participation request, and indicates to request participation in
the established session. "Leave" is the change request information
indicating to terminate a session.
(Respective Functional Parts of Transmission Management System)
[0135] Next, the respective functional parts of the transmission
management system 50 will be described in detail. Note that, below,
when the respective functional parts of the transmission management
system 50 are described, relations with main parts for implementing
the respective parts of the transmission management system 50 shown
in FIG. 3 will also be described.
[0136] The communication part 51 is implemented by the network I/F
209 shown in FIG. 3, and transmits and receives various data (or
information) to/from another transmission terminal, apparatus or
system via the communication network 2. The terminal authentication
part 52 searches the terminal authentication management table (see
FIG. 9) of the nonvolatile storage part 5000 using the terminal ID
and the password included in the login request information received
via the communication part 51 as search keys to determine whether
the terminal authentication management table manages the same
terminal ID and the password and thus carries out terminal
authentication.
[0137] Also, the communication part 51 has a function of a
notification part transmitting a notification of a participation
failure to a transmission terminal which made a participation
request, when the participation determination part 63, described
later, determines that, because the established session sets the
participation restrictions, participation is not possible.
[0138] The state management part 53 manages the operation states
and the communication states in the terminal management table shown
in FIG. 10. The state management part 53 stores the terminal IDs of
login request terminals, the operation states of the login request
terminals, the received dates/times when the transmission
management system 50 received the login requests and the IP
addresses of the login request terminals in the terminal management
table (see FIG. 10) in a manner of associating them and manages
them in order to manage the operation states of transmission
terminals 10 having transmitted login requests (the login request
terminals). The state management part 53 sets the operation states
indicating "off line" into "on line" in the terminal management
table (see FIG. 10) based on information indicating that the power
is turned on transmitted from transmission terminals 10 as a result
of the power switches 109 of the transmission terminals being
turned on by the users. Similarly, the state management part 53
sets the operation states indicating "on line" into "off line" in
the terminal management table (see FIG. 10) based on information
indicating that the power is turned off transmitted from
transmission terminals 10 as a result of the power switches 109 of
the transmission terminals being turned off by the users.
[0139] The state management part 53 appropriately changes at least
one of the operation state and the communication state of at least
either one of the start request terminal and the destination
terminal of the start request information of a video conference in
the terminal management table (see FIG. 10) based on change request
information when the communication part 51 receives the change
request information transmitted from the start request terminal or
the destination terminal.
[0140] FIGS. 17 and 18 are state transition diagrams of the
communication states managed by the state management part 53. The
state management part 53 changes the communication states of
transmission terminals 10 according to a rule for changing the
communication states (see FIGS. 17 and 18) implemented from reading
the state change management tables shown in FIGS. 15 and 16.
[0141] For example, in response to receiving the change request
information "Accept", if the communication state of a transmission
terminal 10 is "Private Ringing" or "Private Calling", the state
management part 53 changes the communication state into "Private
Accepted", and, if the communication state of a transmission
terminal 10 is "Private Accepted", the communication state leaves
"Private Accepted" as it is, as shown in FIG. 18.
[0142] According to the transmission system 1, in order to
implement such a state changing function of the state management
part 53, the state change management table (see FIGS. 15 and 16) is
used, for example. However, it is not necessary to limit in such a
way. For example, it can be sufficient that the transmission
management system program controls the state management part 53 in
such a manner that the state management part 53 is capable of
changing the communication states according to the communication
state transition rule shown in the state transition diagrams of
FIGS. 17 and 18.
[0143] The terminal extraction part 54 searches the destination
list management table (see FIG. 11) using the terminal IDs of
target transmission terminals that are processing targets such as
transmission terminals 10 having made login requests as search
keys, reads the terminal IDs of the destination terminal candidates
eligible to carry out conversations therewith, i.e., eligible to
establish sessions therewith, and thus, extracts the terminal IDs.
Specifically, the terminal extraction part 54 reads the terminal
IDs of the destination terminal candidates from the destination
list management table (see FIG. 11) associated with the terminal ID
of the start request terminal coincident with the terminal ID of
the target transmission terminal.
[0144] Also, the terminal extraction part 54 searches the
destination list management table using the terminal ID of the
target transmission terminal as a key and extracts also the
terminal IDs of the other transmission terminals which register the
terminal ID of the target transmission terminal as their
destination terminal candidates. Specifically, the terminal
extraction part 54 reads, from the destination list management
table (see FIG. 11), the terminal IDs of the start request
terminals associated with the terminal ID of the destination
terminal candidates coincident with the terminal ID of the target
transmission terminal.
[0145] The terminal state acquisition part 55 searches the terminal
management table (see FIG. 10) using each terminal ID as a search
key and reads the operation state and the communication state for
the terminal ID. Thereby, the terminal state acquisition part 55
can acquire the operation states of candidates for a destination
terminal eligible to carry out a conversation with a transmission
terminal which made a login request. Also, the terminal state
acquisition part 55 searches the terminal management table to also
acquire the operation state of the transmission terminal that made
the login request.
[0146] The relay apparatus selection part 56 carries out a process
of selecting one from among a plurality of relay apparatuses 30.
For this purpose, the relay apparatus selection part 56 implements
a session ID generation part 56a, a relay apparatus extraction part
56b and a selection part 56c shown in FIG. 19 using the CPU 201
shown in FIG. 3. Note that, FIG. 19 is a functional block diagram
showing details of the relay apparatus selection part 56 of FIG.
5.
[0147] Thereamong, the session ID generation part 56a generates a
session ID for identifying a session in which content data is
transmitted between transmission terminals. The relay apparatus
extraction part 56b searches the relay apparatus selection
management table (see FIG. 14) based on the terminal ID of the
start request terminal and the terminal ID of the destination
terminal included in start request information transmitted from a
start request terminal and extracts the corresponding relay
apparatus IDs, respectively. The selection part 56c selects relay
apparatuses 30 by selecting the relay apparatus IDs of the relay
apparatuses 30 having the operation states "on line" from among
those managed in the relay apparatus management table (see FIG.
8).
[0148] The session management part 57 stores, in the session
management table (see FIG. 12) of the nonvolatile storage part
5000, the session IDs generated by the session ID generation part
56a, the terminal IDs of the request source transmission terminals
and the terminal IDs of the destination terminals in a manner of
associating them, and manages them. Also, the session management
part 57 stores, in the session management table, the relay
apparatus ID of the single relay apparatus 30 finally selected, for
each session ID, and manages them.
[0149] Further, the session management part 57 searches the session
management table (see FIG. 12) using the terminal ID of the
on-participation transmission terminal already participating in the
session included in the participation request information of a
participation request as a search key and extracts the session ID
of the session that is the target of the participation request.
Specifically, the session management part 57 searches the session
management table (see FIG. 12) for the terminal ID of the start
request terminal or the terminal ID of the destination terminal
coincident with the terminal ID of the on-participation
transmission terminal. Then, the session management part 57
extracts the session ID associated with the coincident terminal
ID.
[0150] The quality determination part 58 searches the quality
management table (see FIG. 13) using the delay time as a search
key, extracts the image quality of the corresponding image data to
determine the image quality of the image data to be relayed by a
relay apparatus 30. The storing and reading process part 59 is
implemented by the HDD 205 shown in FIG. 3, stores various data in
the nonvolatile storage part 5000 and reads various data from the
nonvolatile storage part 5000. Further, the storing and reading
process part 59 also stores various data in the volatile storage
part 5100 and reads various data from the volatile storage part
5100.
[0151] The delay time management part 60 searches the terminal
management table (see FIG. 10) using the IP address of the
destination terminal as a search key and extracts the corresponding
terminal ID. Then, the delay time management part 60 stores the
delay time indicated by the delay information in the field of delay
time of the session management table (see FIG. 12) on the record
including the thus extracted terminal ID, and manages it.
[0152] The change request information determination part 61 reads
the change request information, and determines whether the change
request information is specific change request information. The
specific change request information is "Invite", "Private Invite"
and "Accept". In other words, the specific change request
information is the change request information stored in the state
change management table shown in FIG. 16.
[0153] The destination determination part 62 reads the destination
list management table (see FIG. 11) and determines whether the
destination terminal IDs of a transmission terminal 10
participating in a content data session "sed" (i.e., a session for
transmitting and receiving content data) extracted by the terminal
extraction part 54 include the terminal IDs of the destination
terminals ID of a transmission terminal 10 making a participation
request.
[0154] When the communication part 51 receives a participation
request from a predetermined transmission terminal 10 for an
established session, the participation determination part 63 reads
the restriction information corresponding to the established
session, and determines whether to permit participation of the
participating request terminal that is the transmission source of
the participation request information in the established
session.
[0155] Specifically, in response to acquisition of the
participation request information, the participation determination
part 63 inhibits participation of the participating request
terminal in the established session when setting the participation
restrictions is designated in the restriction information.
<General Operation of Transmission System>
[0156] Using FIG. 20, a concept will be described illustrating
states of transmission and reception of content data and various
management information in the transmission system 1. As shown in
FIG. 20, in the transmission system 1, among a start request
terminal, a destination terminal A and a destination terminal B, a
management information session "sei" for transmitting and receiving
various management information via the transmission management
system 50 is established. Also, among the start request terminal,
the destination terminal A and the destination terminal B, four
sessions for transmitting and receiving four types of data, i.e.,
high resolution image data, medium resolution image data, low
resolution image data and sound data, are established via the relay
apparatus 30. These 4 sessions are generally referred to as a
content data session "sed". In other words, a content data session
"sed" is a session used for a video conference.
<Participant Prior Confirmation Setting>
[0157] FIG. 21 illustrates one example of a screen page for a
participant prior confirmation setting.
[0158] From a user interface (UI) as shown in FIG. 21, by selecting
"TO SET", it is possible to activate an operation of carrying out
prior confirmation of conference participants (i.e., participation
terminals) when selecting a destination from a destination list
screen page. By selecting "NOT TO SET", an operation transition
similar to an existing video conference is carried out, and thus,
an operation of prior confirmation will not be carried out. Note
that, the contents thus set from the UI of FIG. 21 are stored in
the nonvolatile storage part 1000 (see FIG. 5) of the transmission
terminal 10.
<Display of Destination List>
[0159] FIG. 22 is a sequence diagram illustrating one example of
the process from when the power is turned on in the transmission
terminal 10 to the destination list is displayed.
[0160] In FIG. 22, when the user of the transmission terminal 10aa
turns on the power switch 109 (see FIG. 2), the operation input
reception part 12 (see FIG. 5) receives the turning-on operation
and turns on the power (Step S21). Then, in response to the
reception of the turning-on operation, the login request part 13
automatically transmits login request information from the
communication part 11 to the transmission management system 50 via
the communication network 2 indicating a login request (Step S22).
The login request information includes the terminal ID for
identifying the transmission terminal 10aa (the own transmission
terminal) that is the request source and the password. The terminal
ID and the password are data read out from the nonvolatile storage
part 1000 via the storing and reading process part 19 and are
transmitted to the communication part 11. Note that, when the
transmission terminal 10aa thus transmits the login request
information to the transmission management system 50, the
transmission management system 50 at the reception side can know
the IP address of the transmission terminal 10aa at the
transmission side.
[0161] Next, the terminal authentication part 52 of the
transmission management system 50 searches the terminal
authentication management table (see FIG. 9) of the nonvolatile
storage part 5000 using the terminal ID and the password included
in the login request information received via the communication
part 51 as a search key, thus determining whether the same terminal
ID and password are managed in the terminal authentication
management DB 5002, and carries out terminal authentication (Step
S23).
[0162] When it has been determined that the login request is one
sent from the transmission terminal 10aa having legitimate use
authority as a result of a determination that the terminal
authentication part 52 manages the same terminal ID and the
password, the state management part 53 stores, for the record of
the transmission terminal 10aa identified by its terminal ID and
terminal name, the date/time of having received the login request
information and the IP address of the transmission terminal 10aa in
a manner of associating them in the terminal management table (see
FIG. 10) (Step S24-1).
[0163] Next, the state management part 53 sets the operation state
"on line" and the communication state "None" of the transmission
terminal 10aa, and stores, in the terminal management table, for
the record of the transmission terminal 10aa identified by its
terminal ID and terminal name, the operation state and the
communication state in a manner of associating them (Step
S24-2).
[0164] Then, the communication part 51 of the transmission
management system 50 transmits authentication result information
indicating the authentication result acquired by the terminal
authentication part 52 and a UI link for displaying the destination
list to the login request terminal (the transmission terminal 10aa)
having transmitted the login request via the communication network
2 (Step S25). Description will now be continued for the case where,
in the transmission system 1, terminal authentication part 52
determined that the login request terminal has the legitimate use
authority.
[0165] Next, the terminal extraction part 54 searches the
destination list management table (see FIG. 11) using the terminal
ID "01aa" of the login request terminal (the transmission terminal
10aa) having made the login request as a search key, and reads and
extracts the terminal IDs of the destination terminal candidates,
with which the login request terminal (the transmission terminal
10aa) is eligible to carry out a conversation as a start request
terminal, i.e., eligible to establish a session (Step S27). Also,
the terminal extraction part 54 searches the terminal management
table using the thus extracted terminal IDs as search keys, and
reads and extracts the terminal names corresponding to the terminal
IDs, i.e., the terminal names of the destination terminal
candidates.
[0166] The terminal state acquisition part 55 of the transmission
management system 50 searches the terminal management table using
the terminal IDs of the destination terminal candidates thus
extracted by the terminal extraction part 54 as search keys, reads
the corresponding operation states and communication states for the
respective terminal IDs extracted by the terminal extraction part
54 and thus acquires the respective operation states and
communication states of the respective transmission terminals as
the destination terminal candidates (Step S31).
[0167] Next, the communication part 51 transmits the terminal IDs
used in Step S31 as the search keys and state information including
the operation states and the communication states of the
corresponding destination terminal candidates to the login request
terminal via the communication network 2 (Step S32). Specifically,
in Step S32, the communication part 51 transmits the terminal ID
"01ab" as the search key and the state information including the
operation state "off line" of the destination terminal candidate
(the transmission terminal 10ab) to the login request terminal (the
transmission terminal 10aa). Note that, when the operation state is
"off line", the state information does not includes the
communication state. Also in Step S32, the communication part 51
transmits the terminal ID "01ba" and the state information
including the operation state "on line" and the communication state
"Private Calling" of the corresponding destination terminal
candidate (the transmission terminal 10ba), and so forth, and thus,
transmits the state information of all the destination terminal
candidates to the login request terminal (the transmission terminal
10aa).
[0168] Next, the storing and reading process part 19 of the login
request terminal (the transmission terminal 10aa) stores the state
information thus received in sequence from the transmission
management system 50 in the volatile storage part 1002 (Step S33).
Thus, the login request terminal (the transmission terminal 10aa)
receives the state information of the respective transmission
terminals, and thus, can acquire the respective current operation
states and communication states of the destination terminal
candidates, such as the transmission terminal 10ab, eligible to
carry out conversations with the login request terminal (the
transmission terminal 10aa) as the start request terminal.
[0169] Next, the terminal extraction part 54 of the transmission
management system 50 searches the destination list management table
using the terminal ID "01aa" of the login request terminal (the
transmission terminal 10aa) as a search key, and extracts the
terminal IDs of the other transmission terminals (the start request
terminals) each of which registers the terminal ID "01aa" of the
login request terminal (transmission terminal 10aa) as a
destination terminal candidate (Step S35).
[0170] Next, the terminal state acquisition part 55 of the
transmission management system 50 searches the terminal management
table using the terminal ID "01aa" of the login request terminal
(the transmission terminal 10aa) as a search key, and acquires the
operation state and the communication state of the login request
terminal (the transmission terminal 10aa) (Step S36).
[0171] Next, the display control part 16 of the transmission
terminal 10aa acquires the UI based on the UI link acquired when
having acquired the authentication result information from the
transmission management system 50 (Step S36-2), thus acquires the
UI (display data described according to a structured language such
as HTML) (Step S36-3), and displays the destination list (Step
S36-4).
[0172] Next, the communication part 51 of the transmission
management system 50 transmits, to the transmission terminal(s)
having the operation state(s) "on line" in the terminal management
table from among the transmission terminals of the terminal IDs
extracted in Step S35, the terminal ID "01aa" and the state
information including the operation state "on line" and the
communication state "None" of the login request terminal (the
transmission terminal 10aa) acquired in Step S36 (the transmission
terminal 10aa) (Step S37-1, S37-2). Next, the transmission terminal
10ba and the transmission terminal 10db display the state
information of the destination terminal candidates on their display
devices 120, respectively (Steps S38-1 and S38-2). Note that, when
the communication part 51 is to transmit the state information to
the transmission terminals (10ba and 10db), the communication part
51 reads the IP addresses of the transmission terminals managed in
the terminal management table based on the respective terminal IDs
("01ba" and "01db"). Thus, it is possible to transmit, to the
respective transmission terminals (transmission terminals (10ba and
10db)) eligible to carry out conversations with the login request
terminal (the transmission terminal 10aa) as the destination, the
terminal ID "01aa" of the login request terminal (the transmission
terminal 10aa) and its operation state "on line" and its
communication state "None".
[0173] On the other hand, in the other transmission terminals 10,
in the same way as Step S21, when the users turn on the power
switches 109, the operation input reception parts 12 receive the
turning-on operations and carry out the same process as Steps
S22-S38-1 and S38-2. Thus, the duplicate description will be
omitted.
[0174] FIG. 23 illustrates one example of displaying the
destination list displayed on a transmission terminal 10.
[0175] In FIG. 23, in the destination list, a destination list
frame 1100-1 includes the terminal IDs 1100-2, the terminal names
1100-3 and icons 1100-4a, 1100-4b, 1100-4c and so forth reflecting
the state information of the destination terminal candidates.
[0176] As the icons, an "off line" icon 1100-4a representing a
state of "off line" and not eligible to carry out a conversation, a
conversation-enable icon 1100-4b representing a state of "on line"
and eligible to carry out a conversation and an on-conversation
icon 1100-4c representing an on-conversation state of currently
carrying out a conversation are used.
[0177] When the operation state of the destination terminal
candidate is "on line" and its communication state is "None", the
display control part 16 assigns the conversation-enable icon
1100-4b to the destination terminal candidate based on the UI.
Also, when the operation state of the destination terminal
candidate is "on line" and its communication state is other than
"None", the display control part 16 assigns the on-conversation
icon 1100-4c to the destination terminal candidate. Also, when the
operation state of the destination terminal candidate is "off
line", the display control part 16 assigns the off-line icon
1100-4a to the destination terminal candidate.
[0178] Note that although the case where the UI is acquired from
the transmission management system 50 has been described, it is
also possible that the UI is acquired from a UI management
apparatus provided separate from the transmission management system
50 based on the UI link.
[0179] <Another Process Example of Displaying Destination
List>
[0180] In the process example shown in FIG. 22, in prior to
displaying the destination list (Step S36-4), the transmission
terminal acquires the UI (Steps S36-2 and S36-3). Therefore, it is
not necessary to change the information inside the transmission
terminal even when the UI is changed. However, if the transmission
terminal itself has a failure, a labor is needed to store the
terminal ID in an alternative machine since the terminal ID is
stored in the transmission terminal itself. Unless the terminal ID
is not stored in the alternative machine, the alternative machine
cannot acquire the UI and cannot display the destination list.
[0181] Therefore, in another process example, the terminal ID is
managed by an authentication server, and, when the transmission
terminal is started, it acquires the terminal ID from the
authentication server. Thereby, even when the transmission terminal
has a failure, it is not necessary to change the internal
information of an alternative machine. Thus, it is possible to
remarkably reduce the labor to replace the information.
[0182] FIG. 24 is a functional block diagram illustrating each
transmission terminal, apparatus and system included in the
transmission system corresponding to the other process example of
displaying the destination list. In FIG. 24, the transmission
terminal 10 newly includes a terminal ID acquisition part 21, and
the authentication server 70 having a prior authentication
management DB 701 is connected to the communication network 2. The
terminal ID acquisition part 21 of the transmission terminal 10 has
a function of accessing the authentication server 70 at a time of
starting and acquiring the terminal ID based on information that is
set in the prior authentication management DB 701. FIG. 25
illustrates one example of a prior authentication management table
stored in the prior authentication management DB 701 of the
authentication server 70. As shown, in the prior authentication
management table, a machine number unique to each transmission
terminal and the terminal ID previously assigned to the
transmission terminal are associated.
[0183] FIG. 26 is a sequence diagram illustrating the other process
example from when the power is turned on in the transmission
terminal to when the destination list is displayed. In FIG. 26,
when the user of the transmission terminal 10aa turns on the power
switch 109, the operation input reception part 12 receives the
turning-on operation and turns on the power (Step S21).
[0184] Next, the terminal ID acquisition part 21 of the
transmission terminal 10aa makes a prior authentication request
along with the unique machine number previously assigned to the own
terminal to the authentication serve 70 from the communication part
11 via the communication network 2 in response to the reception of
the turning-on operation (Step S21-2).
[0185] The authentication server 70 reads the prior authentication
management table of the prior authentication management DB 701 to
determine whether the machine number included in the prior
authentication request from the transmission terminal is included.
When the prior authentication management table includes the same
machine number, the authentication server 70 acquires the
corresponding terminal ID (Step S21-3). Then, the authentication
server 70 returns the acquired terminal ID to the transmission
terminal 10aa of the request source as the start request terminal
ID (Step S21-4). The process thereafter is the same as the process
starting from Step S22 of FIG. 22 and the duplicate description
will be omitted.
[0186] Note that, in FIGS. 24 and 26, the authentication server 70
is shown separate to the transmission management system 50.
However, it is also possible that the authentication server 70 is a
part of the transmission management system 50. When the
authentication server 70 is provided separate to the transmission
management system 50, it is advantageously possible to distribute
the processing load of the transmission management system 50.
<Conference Participant Prior Confirmation>
[0187] FIG. 27 is a sequence diagram illustrating one process
example of participant prior confirmation.
[0188] In FIG. 27, when the user of a transmission terminal 10
selects a destination from the destination list, if the participant
prior confirmation setting indicates "TO SET" (see FIG. 21), the
transmission terminal 10 transmits, to the transmission management
system 50, a terminal information request signal indicating a
request to acquire information concerning transmission terminals
that are participating in a video conference (including the thus
selected transmission terminal (the destination) and the other
transmission terminal(s) which is in a state of transmitting and
receiving data and information therewith) (Step S70).
[0189] The terminal state acquisition part 55 of the transmission
management system 50 having received the terminal information
request signal searches the fields of "IP ADDRESS OF TRANSMISSION
TERMINAL" of the terminal management table (see FIG. 10)" using the
IP address of the transmission source of the terminal information
request signal as a search key to acquire the terminal ID included
in the corresponding record, and thus acquires the terminal ID of
the transmission terminal 10 that has transmitted the terminal
information request signal (Step S71).
[0190] Next, the terminal state acquisition part 55 searches the
fields of "START REQUEST TERMINAL ID" and "DESTINATION TERMINAL ID"
of the session management table (see FIG. 12) using the terminal ID
of the destination terminal selected by the user of the
transmission terminal 10 having transmitted the terminal
information request signal as a search key and acquires the
terminal IDs of the transmission terminals that are currently
connected with the destination terminal (Step S72). As to duplicate
terminal IDs, if any, only one thereof is left. Note that the
information of the destination terminal is included in the terminal
information request signal in Step S70 or, in prior thereto, is
already sent to the transmission management system 50.
[0191] Next, the terminal state acquisition part 55 generates a UI
based on the destination list (created when the destination is
designated at the side of the transmission terminal) or the
destination list management table (see FIG. 11) (Step S73). The
details will be described later.
[0192] Then, the transmission management system 50 transmits the
thus generated UI to the transmission terminal 10 that is the
request source (Step S74). This process of transmitting the UI is
carried out subsequent to the previous process of transmitting the
destination list based on the UI link (see Steps S36-2 and S36-3 of
FIG. 22).
[0193] In response to receiving the UI, the transmission terminal
10 displays a conference participant prior confirmation screen page
based on the UI (Step S75).
[0194] The user reads the displayed conference participant prior
confirmation screen page and determines whether to continue the
process to participate in the video conference or cancels the
participation in the video conference (Step S76).
[0195] FIG. 28 illustrates one example of the process of generating
the UI based on the destination list or so (see Step S73 in FIG.
27).
[0196] In FIG. 28, the transmission management system 50 compares
the terminal IDs participating in the video conference (i.e., the
terminal IDs of the transmission terminals that are currently
connected with the destination terminal acquired in Step S72) and
the terminal IDs included in the destination list created when the
destination is designated or the terminal IDs of the destination
terminals associated with the request source terminal in the
destination list management table (Step S741).
[0197] Next, the transmission management system 50 generates the UI
in such a manner as to display the terminal names and the terminal
IDs for the terminal IDs included in both the terminal IDs
participating in the video conference and the destination list or
so, while, for the terminal IDs not included in the destination
list or so, the terminal names are made blank and only the terminal
IDs are displayed (Step S742).
[0198] FIG. 29 shows one example of the conference participant
prior confirmation screen page displayed based on the thus
generated UI. In the example shown, as the conference participants
(i.e., the conference participation terminals), three transmission
terminals are displayed, where, for the first and third
transmission terminals, the terminal names and the terminal IDs are
displayed, while, for the second transmission terminal, the
terminal ID is displayed but the terminal name is made blank,
whereby it is possible to know that the video conference is the
conference where the transmission terminal not registered in the
destination list of the own transmission terminal participates in.
After thus understanding this situation, the user presses the "OK"
button for participating in the video conference (entering the
room), or pressing the "CANCEL" button for canceling participating
in the video conference.
[0199] FIG. 30 illustrates another example of the process of
generating the UI based on the destination list or so (Step S73 in
see FIG. 27).
[0200] In FIG. 30, the transmission management system 50 compares
the terminal IDs participating in the video conference (i.e., the
terminal IDs of the transmission terminals that are currently
connected with the destination terminal acquired in Step S72) and
the terminal IDs included in the destination list created when the
destination is designated or the terminal IDs of the destination
terminals associated with the request source transmission terminal
in the destination list management table (Step S745).
[0201] Next, the transmission management system 50 determines
whether all the transmission terminals participating in the video
conference are included in the terminal IDs included in the
destination list or so, by a process of searching using the
terminal IDs as search keys or so (Step S746).
[0202] Then, when all the transmission terminals participating in
the video conference are included in the terminal IDs included in
the destination list or so (YES in Step S746), the transmission
management system 50 generates the UI in such a manner as to
display that all the conference participants are known (Step S747).
FIG. 31 illustrates one example of the conference participant prior
confirmation screen page displayed based on the thus generated UI.
As shown, in the conference participant prior confirmation screen
page, a message "TRANSMISSION TERMINALS OF ALL CONFERENCE
PARTICIPANTS ARE REGISTERED. DO YOU ENTER ROOM?" is displayed, and
an "OK" button and a "CANCEL" button are displayed.
[0203] Returning to FIG. 30, when any one(s) of the transmission
terminals participating in the video conference is(are) not
included in the terminal IDs included in the destination list or so
(NO in Step S746), the transmission management system 50 generates
the UI in such a manner as to display that a conference
participant(s) not known (with only the terminal ID(s)) is(are)
included (Step S748). FIG. 32 illustrates one example of the
conference participant prior confirmation screen page displayed
based on the thus generated UI. As shown, in the conference
participant prior confirmation screen page, a message "PARTICIPANT
HAVING TRANSMISSION TERMINAL NOT REGISTERED IN THIS TRANSMISSION
TERMINAL IS INCLUDED IN CONFERENCE PARTICIPANTS. DO YOU ENTER ROOM?
(TERMINAL ID: 01cb)" is displayed, and an "OK" button and a
"CANCEL" button are displayed.
Another Embodiment
[0204] Another embodiment will now be described using FIGS.
33-36.
[0205] Basically, the other embodiment has almost the same
configurations, functions, processes and operations as those of the
embodiment described above using FIGS. 1-32. Therefore, duplicate
description for the same configurations, functions, processes and
operations as those of the embodiment described above using FIGS.
1-32 will be omitted.
[0206] As shown in FIG. 33, corresponding to FIG. 5, in the other
embodiment, a destination list creation part 20 is additionally
provided in each transmission terminal 10. Also this part is a
function or a part implemented by operations of the CPU 101
according to the program stored in the ROM 102 shown in FIG. 2 of
the above-mentioned embodiment.
[0207] The destination list creation part 20 creates and updates
the destination list as shown in FIG. 23 of the above-mentioned
embodiment where the states of the destination candidates are
expressed by the icons based on destination list information
(described later) and the state information of the transmission
terminals 10 as the respective destination candidates received from
the transmission management system 50.
[0208] Concerning the display of the destination list described
above for the above-mentioned embodiment using FIG. 22, FIG. 34
corresponds to FIG. 22 in the other embodiment.
[0209] In FIG. 34, the process up to Step S24-2 is the same as the
above-mentioned embodiment described using FIG. 22.
[0210] Then, in Step S25-1, the communication part 51 of the
transmission management system 50 transmits authentication result
information indicating the authentication result acquired by the
terminal authentication part 52 to the login request terminal (the
transmission terminal 10aa) having transmitted the login request
via the communication network 2. Description will now be continued
for the case where, in the transmission system 1, terminal
authentication part 52 determined that the login request terminal
has the legitimate use authority.
[0211] Then, after receiving the authentication result information
indicating that the transmission terminal 10aa is determined to
have the legitimate use authority, the communication part 11 of the
transmission terminal 10aa transmits, to the transmission
management system 50 via the communication network 2, destination
list request information indicating to request the destination list
(Step S26). Thus, the communication part 51 of the transmission
management system 50 receives the destination list request
information.
[0212] Next, the terminal extraction part 54 searches the
destination list management table (see FIG. 11 of the
above-mentioned embodiment) using the terminal ID "01aa" of the
login request terminal (the transmission terminal 10aa) having made
the login request as a search key, and reads and extracts the
terminal IDs of the destination terminal candidates, with which the
login request terminal (the transmission terminal 10aa) is eligible
to carry out a conversation as a start request terminal, i.e.,
eligible to establish a session (Step S27). Also, the terminal
extraction part 54 searches the terminal management table using the
thus extracted terminal IDs as search keys, and reads and extracts
the terminal names corresponding to the terminal names of the
terminal IDs, i.e., the terminal names of the destination terminal
candidates.
[0213] Next, the communication part 51 of the transmission
management system 50 reads data of a destination list frame from
the nonvolatile storage part 5000 via the storing and reading
process part 59 (Step S28), and transmits "destination list
information (the destination list frame, the terminal IDs and the
terminal names)" including the destination list frame together with
the terminal IDs and the terminal names of the destination terminal
candidates extracted by the terminal extraction part 54 to the
start request terminal (the transmission terminal 10aa) (Step S29).
Then, the communication part 11 of the start request terminal (the
transmission terminal 10aa) receives the destination list
information, and the storing and reading process part 19 stores the
destination list information in the volatile storage part 1002
(Step S30).
[0214] Thus, according the transmission system 1 in the other
embodiment, each transmission terminal 10 does not manage the
destination list information but the transmission management system
50 unitarily manages the destination list information of all the
transmission terminals. Therefore, even when the transmission
system 1 will include a new transmission terminal(s) 10, a new
model(s) of a transmission terminal(s) 10 will be used to replace
an existing transmission terminal(s), or the appearance of the
destination list frame or so will be changed, all of the necessary
processes can be carried out at the side of the transmission
management system 50 in a lump. Therefore, it is possible to save
the labor for changing the destination list information at the side
of each transmission terminal 10.
[0215] Steps 31-33 are the same as those of the above-mentioned
embodiment described above using FIG. 22.
[0216] Next, the destination list creation part 20 of the login
request terminal (the transmission terminal 10aa) creates the
destination list reflecting the operation states and the
communication states of the transmission terminals 10 as the
destination terminal candidates based on the destination list
information and the state information of the transmission terminals
stored in the volatile storage part 1002. Then, the display control
part 16 displays the destination list on the display device 120aa
(see FIG. 1) at predetermined timing (Step S34).
[0217] Steps S35-S36, Steps S37-1 and S37-2 and Steps S38-1 and
S38-2 are the same as those of the above-mentioned embodiment
described using FIG. 22 while Steps S36-2, S36-3 and S36-4 shown in
FIG. 22 are not included.
[0218] FIG. 23 of the above-mentioned embodiment also illustrates
one example of displaying the destination list displayed on a
transmission terminal 10 in the other embodiment.
[0219] In the other embodiment, when the operation state of the
destination terminal candidate is "on line" and its communication
state is "None", the destination list creation part 20 assigns the
conversation-enable icon 1100-4b to the destination terminal
candidate. Also, when the operation state of the destination
terminal candidate is "on line" and its communication state is
other than "None", the destination list creation part 20 assigns
the on-conversation icon 1100-4c to the destination terminal
candidate. Also, when the operation state of the destination
terminal candidate is "off line", destination list creation part 20
assigns the off-line icon 1100-4a to the destination terminal
candidate.
<Conference Participant Prior Confirmation>
[0220] FIG. 35 is a sequence diagram illustrating one example of
participant prior confirmation according to the other
embodiment.
[0221] In FIG. 35, Steps S70-S72 are the same as those of the
above-mentioned embodiment described using FIG. 24.
[0222] Then, the transmission management system 50 transmits
terminal information including the terminal IDs of the transmission
terminals that are currently connected with the destination
terminal acquired in Step S72 to the transmission terminal 10 that
is the request source (Step S73-1).
[0223] In response to receiving the terminal information, the
transmission terminal 10 generates display information based on the
destination list (created when the destination is designated at the
side of the transmission terminal) (Step S74-1). Details thereof
will be described later.
[0224] In response to receiving the display information, the
transmission terminal 10 displays a conference participant prior
confirmation screen page based on the display information (Step
S75-1).
[0225] The user reads the conference participant prior confirmation
screen page and determines whether to continue the process to
participate in the video conference participation or cancels the
participation in the video conference (Step S76).
[0226] FIG. 36 illustrates one example of the process of generating
the display information based on the destination list (see Step
S74-1 in FIG. 35).
[0227] In FIG. 36, the transmission management system 50 compares
the terminal IDs participating in the video conference included in
the terminal information (i.e., the terminal IDs of the
transmission terminals that are currently connected with the
destination terminal acquired in Step S72) received from the
transmission management system 50 in Step S73-1 and the terminal
IDs included in the destination list created when the destination
is designated (Step S741-1).
[0228] Next, the transmission terminal 10 generates the display
information in such a manner as to display the terminal names and
the terminal IDs for the terminal IDs included in both the terminal
information and the destination list, while, for the terminal IDs
not included in the destination list, the terminal names are made
blank and only the terminal IDs are displayed (Step S742-1).
[0229] FIG. 29 of the above-mentioned embodiment shows one example
of the conference participant prior confirmation screen page
displayed based on the thus generated display information. In the
example shown, as the conference participants (i.e., the conference
participation terminals), three transmission terminals are
displayed, where, for the first and third transmission terminals,
the terminal names and the terminal IDs are displayed, while, for
the second transmission terminal, the terminal ID is displayed but
the terminal name is made blank, whereby it is possible to know
that the video conference is the conference where the transmission
terminal not registered in the destination list of the own
transmission terminal participates in. After thus understanding
this situation, the user presses the "OK" button for participating
in the video conference (entering the room), or pressing the
"CANCEL" button for canceling participating in the video
conference.
[0230] FIG. 37 illustrates another example of the process of
generating the display information based on the destination list
(see Step S74-1 in FIG. 35).
[0231] In FIG. 37, the transmission terminal 10 compares the
terminal IDs included in the terminal information and the terminal
IDs included in the destination list created when the destination
is designated (Step S745-1).
[0232] Next, the transmission terminal 10 determines all the
terminal IDs included in the terminal information are included in
the terminal IDs included in the destination list, by a process of
searching using the terminal IDs as search keys or so (Step
S746-1).
[0233] Then, when all the terminal IDs in the terminal information
are included in the destination list (YES in Step S746-1), the
terminal 10 generates the display information in such a manner as
to display that all the conference participants are known (Step
S747-1). FIG. 31 of the above-mentioned embodiment illustrates one
example of the conference participant prior confirmation screen
page displayed based on the thus generated display information. As
shown, in the conference participant prior confirmation screen
page, a message "TRANSMISSION TERMINALS OF ALL CONFERENCE
PARTICIPANTS ARE REGISTERED. DO YOU ENTER ROOM?" is displayed, and
an "OK" button and a "CANCEL" button are displayed.
[0234] Returning to FIG. 37, when any one(s) of the terminal IDs in
the terminal information is(are) not included in the destination
list (NO in Step S746-1), the transmission terminal 10 generates
the display information in such a manner as to display that a
conference participant(s) not known is(are) included (Step S748-1).
FIG. 32 of the above-mentioned embodiment illustrates one example
of the conference participant prior confirmation screen page
displayed based on the thus generated display information. As
shown, in the conference participant prior confirmation screen
page, a message "PARTICIPANT HAVING TRANSMISSION TERMINAL NOT
REGISTERED IN THIS TRANSMISSION TERMINAL IS INCLUDED IN CONFERENCE
PARTICIPANTS. DO YOU ENTER ROOM? (TERMINAL ID: 01cb)" is displayed,
and an "OK" button and a "CANCEL" button are displayed.
[0235] Note that, in FIG. 35, the transmission management system 50
transmits only the terminal IDs of the transmission terminals
participating in the conference to the transmission terminal 10
(Step S73-1), and the transmission terminal 10 processes the thus
received data (Steps S74-1). However, the process of Step S74-1 can
be carried out at the side of the transmission management system
50. In this case, instead of the destination list, it is possible
to use the destination list management table (see FIG. 11 of the
above-mentioned embodiment) associated with the transmission
terminal 10 that has transmitted the terminal information request
signal.
Summary of Embodiments
[0236] As described above, according to the embodiments described
above, a user can confirm, before participating in a conference,
whether the conference is one in which the user intends to
participate. Thus, it is possible to avoid erroneously
participating in such a conference that the user does not wish to
participate.
[0237] Thus, the transmission systems, transmission management
apparatuses and non-transitory computer-readable
information-recording media have been described in the embodiments.
However, the present invention is not limited to a specific
embodiment and variations and modifications may be made without
departing from the scope of the present invention. In other words,
the present invention should not be interpreted to be limited to
the description of the specific examples and the accompanying
drawings.
[0238] The present application is based on and claims the benefit
of priority of Japanese Priority Application No. 2014-025604 dated
Feb. 13, 2014, Japanese Priority Application No. 2014-025605 dated
Feb. 13, 2014, and Japanese Priority Application No. 2014-258924
dated Dec. 22, 2014, the entire contents of which are hereby
incorporated herein by reference.
* * * * *